Chemical analysis is a branch of chemical science. It is divide into two kinds of

analysis, there are qualitative analysis and quantitative analysis. For those who are
interested to learn this science, let me tell you about one of the vocational schools that
provide this major. Yes, there is Bogor vocational high school of chemical analyst a.k.a
SMAKBO. In this school, you can try and learn various laboratory equipment from the
simplest until the most difficult to operate. In my opinion, difficult means the laboratory
equipment contains a crucial tool's part so it has high accuracy. And also, it is often used in
many industries. Because it’s difficult and has many functions, we have to know more about
the difficulty. Do you agree with that?

               The first is a microscope. It is a piece of laboratory equipment for seeing and

observing objects that are too small, for example, bacteria, protozoa, and plant tissues. A
microscope is mostly used in laboratories, whether in schools, universities, or research
institutes. Due to this laboratory equipment having many tool parts, I think a microscope is a
little bit hard to operate. Before we do an observation for some objects, we must adjust the
tools correctly. Because if it is wrong, we can not see the objects clearly or maybe can’t see
anything. Microbiology laboratory in SMAKBO, always doing a test for the student to use a
microscope at mid and final semester tests. Based on the data, many students got remedial
after doing the test. Why can it happen? The first reason is human error. During an
observation, eyes must focus on the ocular lens, while our hands move the cursor. Of
course, this is not easy to do especially for a long time. The second reason is equipment
error. Coarse and fine adjustment knobs are tools for focusing a lens on objects. Sometimes
it gets loose, so it makes a lens blur.

               The second is a spectrophotometer UV-VIS. This is an instrument to determine the

metal ion concentration of the compound by measuring the absorbance. A
spectrophotometer is a combination of a spectrometer that produce a polychromatic light
from a spectrum with a determined wavelength value, and a photometer which is the
measuring tool of transmitted light intensity. For getting sample concentration as a result,
we need absorbance value from the standard range beside sample absorbance. For some
reason, a spectrophotometer needs more precision skills from analysts so I feel it is hard to
use. You have to make a standard range with a right concentration of a metal standard
solution. Because an instrument can detect a mistake even it is small. A non-linear
calibration curve that we get after measuring the absorbance, indicates there is some
mistake in analysis. There is a linear relationship between absorbance and concentration,
the correlation coefficient is 0,981 of the maximum absorption peaks and the
concentrations. (Dan Wu and Kai Xiao Zhang, 2014)
The third is karl fischer. This instrument can give you some information about water
content in food product. Principle method of this analysis, based on titration. Karl fischer
consist of automatic biurette, titration flask, platinum electrode, string, reagent bottle, and
monitor. It is use karl ficher reagent as titran which is a mixture of iodine, 2-
methoxyethanol, sulfur dioxide, and pyridine in methanol solvent. Adiitionally, the reagent
is very sensitive from the water vapor and carsinogenic. “KF titration is suitable only for
samples containing small amounts of water and larger amounts may overwhelm the reagent
capacity and yield false results” (Liji Thomas, 2019). Due to that statement, it’s important to
be careful when we inject 1 drop of sample with the string during an analysis, and actually it
is hard to do. The other reason why I think this a difficult instrument is about the time of the
titration. Sometimes the color changing is not too clear, so it is hard for looking the end
point of titration.
When doing an analysis, it’s better to use an instrument instead of conventional
equipment because it doesn’t take much time. But remember that sensitivity of an
instrument is bigger than conventional equipment. Each one have advantages and
limitations. Always follow the instructions in Standard Operational Product (SOP) is the
important thing. In conclusion, learning about the difficulty before using the laboratory
equipment, can help us to reduce the fatal error that potentially ruins the equipment. 

Dr. Thomas, L. 2019. News Medical Life Science

https://www.news-medical.net/life-sciences/Advantages-and-Limitations-of-Karl-Fischer-
Titration.aspx (Accesed January 27, 2021)

Mokobi, F. 2020. Microbe Notes

https://microbenotes.com/parts-of-a-microscope/ (Accesed January 27, 2021)